Identifying Local Opportunities

1. UF Sailing Team’s equipment damaged by high winds.

https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-sailing-team-s-equipment-damaged-by-high-winds/article_dbe2b252-42d6-11ea-ba7b-6741d053fad8.html

The article mentions that the UF sailing team’s equipment got damaged and how they are depending on alumni and other people to donate money to be able to buy new equipment.

The problem: The UF sailing team needs to buy new equipment which could cost up to $100,000.

Who has the problem: The UF sailing team.



2. UF Health monitors rumors of coronavirus spreading to Gainesville.

https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-health-monitors-rumors-of-coronavirus-spreading-to-gainesville/article_69a9b1a0-426c-11ea-86b2-87354e5a2a4e.html

The article mentions about how a message on a popular Chinese messaging group, WeChat, is spreading rumors that some student’s parents travelled from China to Gainesville.

The problem: It creates fear amongst the mind of people and if the rumor is true then everyone in Gainesville could be at risk to being exposed to the coronavirus.

Who has the problem: All the people in Gainesville.



3. After class registration glitch, UF student starts petition to fix ONE.UF

https://www.alligator.org/news/after-class-registration-glitch-uf-student-starts-petition-to-fix/article_d31b0248-fc34-11e9-b37c-abc426085d16.html

The article mentions about a glitch that a lot of students faced due to heavy network flow while registering for classes.

The problem: The registration process got delayed for a lot of students due to a technical glitch.

Who has the problem: Everyone who faced the glitch.



4. UF 10-year development plan leaves graduate students worried about housing.

https://www.alligator.org/news/uf--year-development-plan-leaves-graduate-students-worried-about/article_178d6bb4-e669-11e9-817c-7fc72c249881.html

The article discusses about how UF isn’t working towards improving graduate and family housing but rather replace some part of it with playgrounds.

The problem: UF not focusing enough on graduate housing.

Who has the problem: Graduate students looking to get on-campus housing.



5. UF requires health insurance, but do students want that?

https://www.alligator.org/news/uf-requires-health-insurance-but-do-students-want-that/article_3f77d344-3907-11ea-bf77-abcfeab20e68.html

The article discusses how UF requires its students to have health insurance even though the government doesn’t require it by law and how many students are not happy with it.

The problem: Expensive health insurance rates add to the cost of attending the college for students.

Who has the problem: A lot of students at UF.

Forming An Opportunity Belief

Beginning point: I believe there is an opportunity to take advantage of the problem that there is no place to get food near the Lakeside Residential Complex.

Description of the belief: Lakeside Residential Complex is an on-campus apartment-style living option for undergraduate students at UF consisting of 5 buildings. It is located on the far west side of the campus. Both the dining halls at UF are located far from lakeside complex. Several other food places run by Aramark are located far from lakeside complex. The eastern part of the campus has some restaurants nearby on the main street, but that is not the case for the western part. Due to this, people living in lakeside don’t have any place nearby to get food. Thus, I believe there is an opportunity to solve this need. The southwest recreation center and some graduate housing options are also located near lakeside complex that can possibly take advantage of opening up of a dining hall or a restaurant nearby. I think that I am around 75% sure about an opportunity existing in this case.

Prototypical customer 1: A freshman student currently living at lakeside complex.

Q. What do you think about the eating options around the lakeside complex?

Ans. I find it very frustrating that there are no options for getting food nearby. The dining halls are located far from lakeside and so it is not convenient for me to travel to the dining halls thrice a day to get food every time.

Q. How do you currently handle this need?

Ans. I have milk and cereals in the morning and have lunch while I am on campus on weekdays. But for dinner and weekends, I often see myself having frozen food or mac and cheese, which is not healthy.

Q. Are you satisfied with the current solution?

Ans. No, I think that not having proper food options nearby gets quite frustrating sometimes.

Q. What do you think can be done to solve this problem?

Ans. I think that having a dining hall a bit closer or at least a fast-food restaurant nearby would really help a lot

Prototypical customer 2: A junior year student living at lakeside complex.

Q. What do you think about the eating options around the lakeside complex?

Ans. I think that the dining halls are a bit too far and there aren’t really any other options nearby because all other options are located near the Reitz Union and the Hub which are in the central part of the campus.

Q. How do you currently handle this need?

Ans. I actually enjoy cooking food. So, I mostly cook food myself. On some days, if I feel like eating outside, I drive to some restaurant and have food there.

Q. Are you satisfied with the current solution?

Ans. For the most part, yes. But I do think that having an option get food from close by would be nice, especially during the time of exams. During exams, I don’t have enough time to cook and there aren’t enough parking spots at lakeside so if I take my car out and it gets taken by someone else, I might have to wait to get another parking spot.

Q. If a dining hall or some other food place open up nearby, how often do you see yourself going there?

Ans. I think at least around 4-5 times a month and more during exams if it is within walking distance.

Prototypical customer 3: A student who is planning to live at lakeside complex next semester onwards.

Q. What do you think about the eating options around the lakeside complex?

Ans. I haven’t seen much into detail about it yet. But I have heard from some of my friends that it is one of the problems they face here.

Q. How do you currently handle this need?

Ans. Currently, my dorm is right next to one of the dining halls. So, I have my food there every day.

Q. Do you think this will affect you when you move here?

Ans. As I mentioned earlier, I live right next to the dining hall currently. So, I think that could be a big challenge for me to stay at a location that is far away from the dining halls. I hope to find a solution for it before I move there next semester.

Reflection: I found out that a lot of people face a similar need especially because they are college students. I think that there definitely is an opportunity that exists here. The most surprising thing that I found out during the interview is that a lot of students choose lakeside complex because it is very close to the gym and also because it is apartment styled.

Summary: I still think that my original opportunity exists. The assignment surely helped me to judge the extent of the opportunity far more accurately by knowing the opinions of other people. I think that adapting according to the needs of the market and potential customers is very important for entrepreneurs and should not be replaced by staying firm in most cases.

My Entrepreneurship Story

I haven’t had many encounters with entrepreneurs but know several businessmen out of which some started their businesses as entrepreneurs. I talked to one such person who currently owns a construction company. He was born and brought up in a rural area. At the age of 18, after completing his 12th grade, he left the place and moved to a different place. Without a college degree, it was difficult to survive in a well-developed modern town. He started by working at some small auto-parts shop and did some similar jobs thereafter. He tried opening his own shop but closed it after a few months. Then he did some small jobs at a construction site. From there he gathered some valuable experience in the field and then built on to it by working with some other civil engineers. And finally, when he decided to start working on his own, he was lucky to find a hill station that was growing in popularity. He got a contract for the construction of a hotel over there. During his first project, he lived in a makeshift tent on the construction site itself. Even though the foundation for that shelter might not have been the best, but it certainly led to a strong foundation for his success. Currently, he works on construction of commercial and residential buildings in the town along with his younger brother. There are times where he still works till 1 at night. Through this, I learned that the life of an entrepreneur isn't always as glamorous as it looks from the outside.

I enrolled for the ENT3003 class because I am looking forward to completing a minor in entrepreneurship. I was always interested in learning about what goes on in the mindset of an entrepreneur and developing some entrepreneur skills for myself. That’s the reason why I decided to do a minor in entrepreneurship. I wanted the ENT3003 class to be that gateway for me to start my studies in the field. Also, it helps me get a break by doing something apart from my Computer Science major curriculum in between.

Bug List

1. Not having enough good vegetarian options of different varieties in the USA.

Reason: There aren’t as many vegetarian people in the USA as compared to India.

2. Vegetarian food and non-vegetarian food are cooked using the same utensils in the USA.

Reason: Unlike India, there isn’t a law in the USA that asks the restaurants to have separate parts of the kitchen for vegetarian and non-vegetarian food and the market for vegetarian food isn’t big enough to convince the owners to spend that extra money.

3. Fresh products are mostly placed at the very back in grocery stores.

Reason: Stores generally want to sell the products that are going to expire soon first.

4. People who don’t put the weights back in their place after they are done working out.

Reason: Some of the people are those who have just started working out and don’t know about it, whereas others are just lazy and leave it to be done by the next person.

5. People who go to classes without taking a shower.

Reason: Some people might have woken up late, whereas some just don’t care about it.

6. The fact that all the campus dining places are very far from the lakeside complex.

Reason: The university might not have felt the need to have a campus dining option near the lakeside complex since it has kitchens and is the only on-campus housing place in that area.

7. The bus 28 that goes from lakeside to Walmart doesn’t run on weekends and other holidays.

Reason: It is not a part of the group of buses that run on reduced service and holiday service.

8. The Wi-Fi at the lakeside complex is often weak.

Reason: There are a lot of people using the network at the same time leading to network congestion.

9. People who modify their cars and motorcycles to make it super loud.

Reason: They just like to show off their vehicles.

10. Me not being able to access my Indian Amazon Prime and other video streaming service accounts in the USA and thus having to pay twice for the same service.

Reason: It is because of some geographical copyright laws.

11. People talking to each other and not maintaining silence on level 2 of the Marston library.

Reason: Many students use that as a place to spend their time between lectures rather than for actually studying.

12. Google home speakers can’t be connected to the campus Wi-Fi.

Reason: The method that UF uses to make the Wi-Fi secure and safe to use is not supported by google home.

13. The fact that the programming class required students to code on a text editor rather than an IDE for the exam.

Reason: The text editor is already linked with canvas and lockdown browser, as a result, it is easier to restrict students from opening up other applications during the exam to get help.

14. People who don’t flush toilets.

Reason: Sometimes people forget, or they just find the toilet too unhygienic and leave it to be flushed by the next person.

15. People who share hundreds of stories on Instagram about an event that they are attending.

Reason: They just like sharing their experiences with their friends.

16. People who check-in on Facebook for every venue that they visit.

Reason: Similar to the previous one, those people like to share their experiences with their friends.

17. Different classes at UF require different types of clickers (such as H-ITT IR clicker or Top Hat clicker).

Reason: The professors might prefer a specific clicker over the others.

18. People who have already seen a movie talking about what happens next in the cinema and ruining the experience for other people.

Reason: They just don’t care about other people around them.

19. When flights get delayed, especially for long flights.

Reason: There are several reasons for it such as climate or technical issues.

20. People who use the express counter in grocery stores even if they have more than the allowed number of items.

Reason: It is faster than other counters.



Reflection: It was easy to come up with the first few bugs since they are the ones that I face frequently. But, after that, it was difficult to come up with more bugs. This is because you know that a particular thing bugs you but you realize it only when you see it and then often forget about it.

Test Post

Hello, Tarang here.